Tuesday, August 19, 2008

I have no idea how I've managed to see two horror movies called Joshua in a matter of a few weeks. Apparently Joshua is getting up there with Damien as a name for creepy-ass kids.

Joshua is a little-known independent movie that I came across when I was working on the review for the previous "Joshua" movie that I watched. It is the story of a young rich child living on Park Avenue in Manhattan. Joshua appears to have everything: a beautiful apartment, great school, a plethora of toys, and of course, tons of money. But soon, Joshua gets something that he does not want -- a baby sister.

Lily is born, and as it usually is with babies, she needs a lot of attention. Everyone is taking pictures and cooing over the baby, and young Joshua is not taking this whole thing very well. He begins to act out in strange and violent ways. It begins with cutting up his stuffed animals and purposely ruining a piano recital, but quickly escalates.

Sadly, at the same time, Joshua's mother is struggling with severe post-partum depression. She is also not adjusting well to Lily's birth, and her family is suffering. Joshua continues to make life difficult on everyone as he masterminds his creepy plans to chip away at the family.

The tone of this movie was very reminiscent of The Omen -- it was obvious that this child had major underlying problems that were enhanced by the birth of his sister. Although there is really no blood and gore to speak of, this film was thoroughly creepy and incited quite a few scares and screams in our living room.